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Please come to the Memorial Day meeting of the Rim Country Republican Club to hear a presentation byTom Morrissey, Past Chairman of the AZ GOP. The meeting will be held on May 29 at Tiny's Restaurant, Highway 260 in Payson Arizona at 11:00 am. Mr. Morrissey's talk will be about his experiences with the Establishment in our party when he was State Chairman and what really goes on behind closed doors, far from the eyes and ears of the grassroots and true believers.

But, what the American people didn't know was that the American Health Care Act would not have accomplished its primary mission and promise: Repeal and Replace ObamaCare.

The American Health Care Act was a kludge of a health-care policy. Described as a way to simultaneously repeal key elements of the Affordable Care Act and replace them with market-oriented reforms, the bill in its final form managed to do little of either. Freedom Caucus members were particularly concerned about the willingness of House leaders to leave the vast majority of Obamacare’s regulations on the books — after Republicans spent seven years promising that the party would “repeal and replace Obamacare.” Even the rationale that the AHCA would be better than nothing was hard to justify; it probably would have further destabilized the individual market, while millions fewer would have been insured. See It's Wrong for Trump to Blame Conservatives.

The laws, rules, regulations, executive branch and federal agency proclamations and issuances, memos, guidance documents, bulletins, circulars, announcements with practical regulatory effect, “significant” agency guidance documents, and thousands of other such documents that are subject to little scrutiny or democratic accountability, and that have stifled entrepreneurship, jobs, the economy, and innovation.

That Wall. Tear it down, Mr. Trump.

Of the 10 highest-ever Federal Register regulation page counts, Obama is responsible for seven. Obama keeps breaking his own record! 77,687 (2014); 78,961 (2012); 79,311 (2013); 80,260 (2015); 81,247 (2011); 81,405 (2010).; and 91,642 (2016). That's an Atlas-back-breaking total of over 570,000 pages. There are some "fact checkers" who quibble about number of pages versus number of regulations, blah, blah. However, the point is this: Americans are being strangled by regulations.

This is what the Regulatory Wall looked like in 2013, before Obama "hit his stride."

Legislators have been receiving numerous complaints from constituents who are very concerned with the threatening tone of the May 13, 2016 letter from U.S. Attorney General Lynch and U.S. Department of Education Secretary King.

The letter coerces our nation’s K-12 public schools and colleges to ensure that transgender students must be allowed to use the gender designated restrooms, changing rooms and locker facilities of their choosing, not necessarily that of their biological gender. It has been estimated that approximately 0.3% of U.S. individuals identify themselves as transgender.

TheCOMPLAINT FOR DECLARATORY AND INJUNCTIVE RELIEF concerns the May 13, 2016 "Joint Guidance" issued by the U.S. Departments of Justice and Education relating to requiring public schools that receive federal funding to allow transgender students to use whatever restroom or locker room they wish, based on how they identify their gender.

The threat to withdraw federal funding from any school that doesn't comply is very clear in this sentence: "Under Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, schools receiving federal money may not discriminate based on a student's sex, including a student's transgener status."

"Maya Dillard Smith, the head of Georgia’s ACLU chapter, stepped down this week in protest of the civil rights group’s challenge of a controversial North Carolina law that critics see as discriminatory to transgender people."

“I have shared my personal experience of having taken my elementary school age daughters into a women’s restroom when shortly after three transgender young adults over six feet with deep voices entered,” she writes. “My children were visibly frightened, concerned about their safety and left asking lots of questions for which I, like many parents, was ill-prepared to answer.”

The first effort to strip our duly elected Superintendent of Public Instruction (SPI) of powers was during the Legislature's last session. Thankfully, HB2184was held in the House. The second whack at our eleted SPI was brought forward this session by Sen. Jeff Dial, via SB1416.

The House Education Committee will meet on Wednesday, March 16, at 2:00 PM, to vote on SB1313. Click HERE for the agenda. Please call, visit, use the RTS (virtual Request to Speak), email the following Committee members as soon as possible!

An extremely good bill, HB2115 passed its first Committee hearing on 1/28/2015: 6 in favor, 2 against, 1 absent. It would have passed 7-2, because Rep. Justin Olson (LD25), who was absent, was one of the bill's Primary Sponsors. But it has a long way to go to become law.

Please recall from my original article, Rep. Warren Petersen (LD12) crafted this legislation as a deterrent, making public officials think twice before illegally spending thousands of taxpayer dollars, thinking they can walk away with lucrative taxpayer-paid benefits or severance pay. After watching the committee hearing, including Phoenix Council member Sal DiCiccio's comments, it's clear that government employees enjoy far more "job protections and tolerance for bad behavior" than private sector employees.

In the case of Stephen Banta, CEO of Valley Metro, following an investigation by The Republic, they reported that Banta was reimbursed with taxpayer funds for flying first-class, buying alcohol, staying in $600/night hotels, and eating in some of the most expensive restaurants in Portland, charging all of it to the taxpayers, while running Valley Metro. This included 44 round-trip airfares between Phoenix and Portland from February 2010 to July 2012 for Banta and his wife. The Republic also found that Banta was reimbursed for dinners that included guests who said they didn't attend those dinners.

Rep. Warren Petersen has crafted legislation that will have a chilling effect on public officials who illegally waste money and then walk away with lucrative benefits or severence pay. It's HB2115 Simple, straightforward, brief. (This bill is scheduled to be heard Jan. 28 at 9:00 am in the Government and Higher Education Committee. See ACTION at the end of this article.)

Should a public official who is caught and terminated for fraudulently, lavishly spending taxpayer dollars on meals, travel, hotels, entertaining, etc., go on to receive lucrative payouts, annuities, pensions, and other benefits?

Rep. Warren Petersen doesn't think so, and neither do the many other sponsors and co-sponsors of this excellent bill. HB2115 spells out that anyone who is found guilty would forfeit any future benefits. While there already are laws on the books against fraud and misappropriation of public funds, these cases don’t always get pursued as the official is fired or even allowed to quit.

HB2115 ensures that these public officials forfeit any future benefits. States Petersen: “All too often, those who are caught and terminated leave with lavish payouts, annuities, pensions and other benefits. Termination from a high position in government office should not be like winning the Lotto. Rewarding someone for bad behavior can only encourage more of the same.” See Petersen Seeks to Prevent Lavish Payouts to Errant Public Officials.Two cases come to mind:

In this video, you will see that West Virginia is suffering 6.9% unemployment, due to the Obama Administration's determination to shut down the coal industry with excessive regulations, thanks to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). There is no mention of the more than 50% unemployment suffered by 300,000 Navajos, or the destruction of jobs in Northern Arizona!